Wishing you all the best in 2011

First thing to say in our first 2011 edition of the weekly is Happy New Year from all of the Ducks here at Cyber-Duck.

Some of the Cyber-Duck team went along to the PHP meet-up in London this week. The event was designed to promote knowledge sharing and best practice amongst PHP developers and web development and business professionals in London.

Cyber-Duck’s Matt Gibson gave his views on how to create a successful website in an interview with New Media Knowledge. During the interview Matt spoke about how to implement a successful SEO strategy, what the user experience of a website means and what to expect from web design in 2011.

industry

Popular online retailing giant Amazon has announced they are looking to open their own web-based application store. The service will initially be exclusively open to programs that run using Google’s Android mobile operating system and developers can already start submitting their apps for approval. The move is a clear attempt from Amazon to grab a part of the ever-growing demand for online apps.

Starbucks have unveiled a new logo in a brand revamp. The reason behind the move is said to be that the company is looking to expand beyond their traditional product offering of coffee into sale of products like beer, wine and ice-cream in selected US outlets. Some brand experts have criticised the move, but it remains to be seen how successful it will prove to be.

Cyber-Duck MD Danny Bluestone had his say on the matter stating: “Starbuck's twin sailed siren glyph is internationally known and is distinctive. The big change to the logo is removing the word 'Starbucks' and the word 'coffee'. It is yet to be seen how recognisable and liked the new logo will be with my gut feeling telling me that this will only increase customers curiosity and lure them into the branch.”

“The main advantage is that new logo has been modernised and simplified and is very similar to the original so customers should feel within their comfort zone when holding their Starbucks cup. Now Starbucks can easily expand their product range to other retail items which is what they are clearly trying to do.”

Let's work together

Our interdisciplinary team can work as an extension of yours - we would love to hear your ideas.